Chapter Text
“Do you have everything you brought with you Tuukka?” Price asked as the three visiting goalies prepared to return home the next day.
“Yeah,” Tuukka said as he checked his bags for a fourth time.
“What about you Flower?” Price asked.
“I’m all set.”
“Crow?”
“I’ve got everything.”
“Okay good,” Price said, “I don’t feel like paying to ship something you forgot back to you a week from now. Are you guys hungry? There’s a really good little place not too far from the airport.”
“You lead the way,” Tuukka said, “I don’t even know the language around here.”
--
“Ah bonjour monsieur Price, » (Hello, Mr. Price) The waitress greeted, « Vous avez les amis aujourd’hui. » (You have friends today)
« Ah oui, » Price said, « Est-ce que vous avez les menus en anglaises? » (Yeah, do you have any English menus? )
«Je regret, nous n’avon pas les menus en anglaises. » (I’m sorry we don’t have English menus)
« C’est d’accord. » (That’s okay) Price said, “Sorry Tuukka, they don’t have any menus in English. We can read things out to you.”
« Suivez-moi s’il vous plait.” (Please come with me)
“Okay, so we definitely have to get an order of cretons,” Price said as he looked over the menu, “What do you want Tuukka?”
“Do they have any omlettes?” Tuukka asked.
“They have one with cheese; sausage; Canadian bacon; three meat; pepper, onions and mushrooms,” Price read, “Which one sounds good?”
“The last one,” Tuukka responded, “The one with the peppers and stuff in it.”
--
« Regardez maman, » (Look mom!) A young boy could be heard saying shortly after they had ordered their food, “C’est Carey Price! Le gardien des Canadiens!” (It’s Carey Price! The goalie of the Canadiens! Tuukka held his breath as the child approached the table.
« Bonjour monsieur Price! » (Hello Mr. Price!)
« Bonjour. » (Hello.)
« Uh, s’il vous plait…je voudrais un photo. » (Uh, I would like a picture please)
« D’accord, » (Okay) Price said as he handed the phone to Crawford, « Corey s’il vous plait. » (Please Corey)
“Merci monsieur Price!” (Thank you Mr. Price) The little boy said as he took the phone back and walked back to his parents.
Tuukka breathed a small sigh of relief.
« Papa, l’homme avec monsieur Price, est-ce qu’il Tuukka Rask, Le gardien des Bruins? » The three French speaking goalies heard. (Dad, the man with Mr. Price, is he Tuukka Rask, the Bruins’ goalie?)
« Je ne sais pas. Je n’ai jamais vu Tuukka Rask. Mais pourquoi est-ce que tu penses qu’il au Montréal? » (I don’t know. I’ve never seen Tuukka Rask. But why do you think he’s in Montreal?)
« Ah c’est vrai. » (Ah, that’s true)
The three goalies sighed in relief as the child dropped the matter.
“What’s wrong?” Tuukka said, “You all look worried.”
“That kid recognized you,” Fleury said, “What’s your middle name? Just in case he catches on again.”
“My middle name is Mikael,” Tuukka said.
“Would you mind if we called you that for the time being?” Price asked.
“Go ahead,” Tuukka said, “I want to keep a low profile here.”
“So Mikael, when’s your flight?” Crawford asked.
“Not until the afternoon,” Tuukka said, “We have plenty of time to eat.”
--
When the waitress brought the four goalies their food, Tuukka eyed something he wasn't quite sure of. There was a small dish of a grayish tan something on the table.
"Um, Price," Tuukka said, "What is that?"
"That Mikael, is cretons."
"What is it?"
"You'll find out."
"Oh no, I'm not playing that game again," Tuukka said, "I'm not playing the "try it then we'll tell you what it is game again."
"Bad experience?" Fleury asked.
Tuukka sighed, "We have some...interesting delicacies in Northern Europe,” He said, "The last time I played the "try it first" game I ended up sick for a day."
"Jeez what did they make you try?"
"A thing called black sausage." Tuukka said, "Which is like sausage just made with blood. I was blindfolded because my asshole teammates knew I wouldn't try it otherwise."
"We have something like that in Canada," Fleury said, "I've never had it."
"Keep it that way but that wasn’t what made me sick," Tuukka said, "The second thing they had me try is one of the top reasons why I don't like Swedes."
"What is it?" Price asked
"It's called surstromming." Tuukka said.
"Which is...?"
"Rotten fish in a can," Tuukka said, “I got incredibly sick from that.”
“Who the hell decided that canned rotten fish is something people should eat?” Fleury said.
“The Swedes,” Tuukka said, “I got so sick they had me stay with the team trainer that night just to make sure I'd be okay, since I lived alone at the time. All I really remember from that night was lying, curled up on the bathroom floor in the team trainer’s house, crying because my stomach hurt so bad. I think they ended up deciding that if I was still feeling as sick the following morning that they would take me to a hospital. But by about two in the morning I started feeling a little better. The pain in my stomach had died down to something that I could handle, I was finally able to hold water down and I was able to get a little bit of sleep. So they just let me rest at the trainer’s house.”
“What made you get so sick?” Crawford asked, “Didn’t you say it was something people actually eat? Did you just have a bad reaction or something?”
“Turns out the can of surstromming was expired by a good almost year.” Tuukka responded.
“Oh my god!” Fleury exclaimed, “Just how the fuck does rotten fish expire?”
“I really couldn’t tell you,” Tuukka said, “But, sorry, I'm not playing the "we'll tell you what it is after you try it" game. Definitely not after the last time.”
"Okay," Price said, "Don't worry, cretons isn't anything super gross like that. It's a spiced fatty pork spread.”
"It's basically spreadable sausage." Fleury said, “Kinda like deviled ham.”
"Okay, I can handle that," Tuukka said, "How do I eat it? Like what's the "normal" way?"
"Just spread it on some toast." Crawford said.
The three Canadians watched as Tuukka cautiously took a small bite of the toast in his hand, “That’s not too bad,” he said, “That’s definitely better than the other stuff I’ve tried. But it’s not as good as poutine.”
“You can’t really beat poutine,” Price said, “I’m surprised it never caught on in America. That seems like it’d be right up their alley.”
“Americans manage to fuck it up,” Crawford said, “They put stuff like foie gras and caviar in it.”
“Or worse mozzarella cheese,” Fleury said.
“What’s foie gras?” Tuukka asked, "And why is putting mozzarella cheese on poutine so bad?"
“Foie gras is fatty goose or duck liver,” Price said, “It’s illegal in a lot of places because it’s so inhumane. They literally force feed the birds to..."
“Can we stop talking about disgusting delicacies!” Fleury exclaimed, “I’m trying to eat!”
“Mikael started it,” Crawford said.
“I was just stating why I won’t ever play the try then we’ll explain it game again,” Tuukka whined, “I didn’t mean it!”
"As for putting mozzarella cheese on poutine, it's just something you don't do," Crawford said, "It's just not right. It's not the Canadian way."
"So what happened to the teammates that made you try that thing?" Fleury asked.
"They were put through a brutal practice session while I was still recovering." Tuukka said, "And were warned to never do it again. I couldn't bring myself to eat fish for several months after that."
"Why did they make you do it anyway?" Crawford asked.
"I had made the junior national team." Tuukka said.
"That's just mean!" Fleury exclaimed, "They should have given you something nice to eat!
"It was a good almost two days before I could eat anything more than crackers, Jell-o, and toast," Tuukka said, "The team gave me nearly a week off to regain my strength.”
“As they should have,” Fleury said.
--
"So, how are we gonna pay?" Tuukka asked once they were done with their breakfast
"How does your team normally pay for meals?"
"We usually put our credit cards in a bag then pull them out one by one," Tuukka explained, "The last person to get their card back pays for the meal."
"Wow," Fleury said, "That's interesting. We just normally split the bill evenly."
"Mikael, do you have about fifteen dollars?" Price asked as he used his phone as a calculator.
"Uh, hold on," Tuukka said, "I have a ten and a bunch of coins." Tuukka then pulled a handfull of coins out of his pocket. "You guys can make sense of this."
"Okay, it looks like he has a toonie and three loonies we can use." Price said.
"What the fuck is a toonie and a loonie?" Tuukka asked.
"A toonie is a two dollar coin and a loonie is a one dollar coin." Crawford explained.
"We don't really have dollar coins," Tuukka said, "Unless you use the one of the fare machines for the T.”
"What's the T?" Fleury asked.
"The Subway system where I'm from," Tuukka said. "I once made the mistake of putting a twenty in the fare machine for a ten dollar fare," Tuukka said, "And I ended up with ten one dollar coins. I never made that mistake again."
--
"So I'll say that we should call or text each other whenever we feel like it," Price said, "We should try to chat with each other once a week or so."
"How about we try to meet up in person when we visit each other's cities." Crawford suggested.
“That sounds good,” Price said.
"Good luck guys," Tuukka said, "Thanks for everything Price. I'll try to return the favor someday. I just hope you don't mind having a baby around. But she's well behaved."
“Don’t worry about it,” Price said, “It was nice to have some company that doesn’t try to sign every scrap of paper he sees.”
"Have a safe flight everyone," Tuukka said, "Hey Price, good luck with PK."
"Thanks Tuukks," Price said, '"I'm gonna need it."
"Have a good season."
--
"Hey Patrice," Tuukka texted just before he boarded the plane, "My plane will arrive in Boston in about an hour and fifteen minutes."
"Alright," Patrice said, "I'll see you then."
--
"Hey Bergy," Tuukka said as he greeted Patrice near the baggage claim at Logan airport,
"Thanks for picking me up."
"Tuukka, something doesn't add up," Patrice said, "There were no canceled flights out of Toronto yesterday. And why were you in Montreal? I thought you said you hated Montreal and "wouldn't be caught dead there if we weren't there for a game.” So what were you doing?"
"Uh..."
"Whatever, if you don't want to tell me that's fine," Patrice said.
"Sorry Bergy," Tuukka said, "I was just meeting up with a few friends in Montreal."
"I guess all that matters is that you're back in Boston," Patrice said, "Try not to do that again."
"I'll try not to." Tuukka said, “It was sort of a last minute thing to be honest.”
"You should have told us that instead of being all secretive," Patrice said, "But it doesn't matter now. You coming to practice tomorrow?"
"I have a charity event to attend."
"Okay," Patrice said, "Have fun."
Tuukka then took out his phone and messaged the other three goalies to let them know that he had arrived in Boston safely.